012 - Into the lion's den.

Medusa Gorgon

As a rule of thumb, Heroic Spirits have a good sensitivity for unexpected changes of circumstances. Sudden developments that couldn't have been predicted are simply part and parcel of their nature. There's no such thing as a legend without twists and turns that catch them unawares. One never knows when the enemy will spring an ambush and force you into the defensive in spite of all your preparation.

Following Illya's… enthusiastic declaration and under the cover of Berserker of Black's very unsubtle arrival, the situation proceeded to gradually devolve into what the professionals of the current era like to call 'Fucked up beyond all recognition'.

… Which isn't all that different for how they called it back in her day, really. Some things never change.

Looking at what happened next from a certain point of view, Atalanta rocketing away to meet Herakles head on saved the group a lot of grief. Sure, it was a reckless move, but the perceived challenge drew Berserker of Black's attention away from the rest of the group and served to keep the chaos of the situation somehow contained. Most importantly, it allowed the rest of the group to stay away from the clash of Berserkers and the potential splash area.

That proved invaluable when Rider of Black's war elephant charged through a damn building from their rear. Had the rest of the Red Faction tried to face Berserker of Black as a group… Well… maybe Chaldea's Shielder would have managed to protect their Masters on her lonesome. Maybe.

It was much more reassuring to watch Altera take the lead and force the moving mountain of muscle to abort its charge with a drop kick, pushing the head of the monster only a lunatic would call an elephant down and causing its mighty tusks to get stuck on the ground. Once again, the unreasonable body of the King of Combat saved the day. Medusa isn't sure she could've achieved the same results in her position, not without pushing her [Monstrous Strength] to a dangerous degree.

Which is, of course, when Assassin of Black made another attempt at doing what he does best. Once again, the chosen opening was flawless. With both Masters and Servants rattled by Berserker of Black's arrival and their attention on the first ambush, Medusa didn't even notice the blurry shape slipping towards the Masters until it was too late.

That's how we reach the current situation, with both Atalanta and Altera busy with their own fights and Medusa herself caught in an awkward position. Assassin of Black's strike is bound to draw blood unless they reveal abilities they want to keep secret.

Medusa is about to reveal one of her trump cards when she notices a second blur moving to intercept the first, right before it reaches Sakura.

A loud, metallic clang echoes through the area when Assassin's [Shaytan's Arm] impact against Shielder's [Around Round Shield]. Because not all Servants were caught on the back foot by Assassin's attempt, because there's someone in position to block, in spite of all the distractions and misdirection.

"If you want to hurt Matou-senpai…" Shielder declares fiercely, eyes shining with determination. "You'll have to go through me first!"

Did the girl have some sort of sixth sense when it comes to protecting others? Maybe some feature of the Shielder class? Or perhaps… Perhaps she was simply so inexperienced in combat that she didn't get distracted because she didn't know what she should be paying attention to in the first place. Counterintuitive as it might feel on occasion, high-level maneuvers that rely on your opponent reacting optimally aren't effective against rookies who won't know how to act optimally in the first place.

Whatever the case, that stunt alone means Mashu Kiryelight has gone up several notches in Medusa's personal list of favorite people. She then kicks Assassin into a wall, because it simply wouldn't do to force the adorable girl to do all the job on her own. Medusa is also the girl's senpai, from a certain point of view.

"Right, Illya decided it would be tactically sound to run off after Berserker of Red to face their Black counterpart together… for whatever the reason." Rin takes stock of the situation with a resigned sigh as Assassin manages to disappear from view again, somehow. "Archer seems to have Rider well on hand…"

She trails off to look on the side, where Archer was dueling Rider on top of his war elephant, rainbow bow split into two short swords to meet the dual axes of the much bigger servant head on. All around them, a downpour of tricolor arrows that Archer must've released at some point before committing to melee fall like shooting stars. The huge body of the mount is continually bombarded by the projectiles, which also force the two fighters to weave and dodge in-between clashes.

"Well… Taking down that mountain won't be quick, but I'd say that front is handled." She continues in a confident voice. "Which leaves poor Assassin to handle both Rider and Shielder. Even if he can threaten us Masters to force one of you into the defensive, these tactics won't be as effective. Mashu here can play shield on her lonesome while Rider focuses on cornering the rat."

Assassin makes another attempt, this time with throwing daggers from afar but, if anything, Shielder has an easier time blocking these and the Servant of the Stealth is forced to abort when one Medusa's nail daggers slams into his recently-vacated position with enough force to pierce through concrete.

"Yeah, that's what I was talking about." Rin concludes, crossing her arms and closing her eyes to nod with a smile that sends a shiver down Medusa's spine. "I don't want to jinx it, but–"

"Then please keep it to yourself, nee-san."

"—It looks like we have the situation under control." Unheeding Sakura's -very reasonable- warning, Rin doesn't keep it to herself. "Geeze, I'm almost disappointed. Is this really all?"

Maybe inevitably, that's when the ghosts arrive.

They raise from the ground, they descend from the skies, they phase out of the buildings and through the cursed flames. Hungering spirits from the netherworld that are infinitely weak on their lonesome but whose numbers easily reach into the thousands.

Things have just become complicated.

Sending a glance all around them, Sakura takes a hand to her forehead with a mix of incredulity and resignation before putting into words what everyone else is thinking. "... Damnit, nee-san."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that an ambush planned by a legendary king renowned for her keen tactical mind was actually worth a damn even if I couldn't see it?" Rin rather ineffectively tries to defend herself. "Besides, these aren't normal ghosts, this is…"

"[Anpu Neb Ta Djeser - Netherworld Mirror Tome]" Medusa nods, sweeping both ends of her chained daggers in a wide circle to force a handful of them to dissipate. "Looks like Caster survived, somehow."

"Wasn't Pharaoh Nitocris heavily associated with death and necromancy?" Haku points out, projecting a handful of… anointed bayonets? To throw at any ghost who gets too close to the group of Masters. "You think she has some form of self-resurrection in her arsenal?"

"We… Didn't think to check." Rin reluctantly concedes as she tries to follow Haku's example with her own magecraft, achieving somewhat underwhelming results. Curses aren't very effective against ghosts, who could've known? "In our defense, not even Cu Chulainn can come back from being ground to paste, so we assumed we had been thorough enough."

From there, things slowly spiral into chaos. At some point during the confusing melee, a ghost phasing up from the ground right behind Rin gets dissipated by a rainbow arrow through the head. This leaves the dark-skinned woman open to getting blown off Rider of Black's mount by a powerful trunk swipe that sends her rocketing towards Medusa.

The unexpected danger forces Medusa to dodge awkwardly, leaving her ill-positioned when Assassin reappears, aiming not for a Master but for Medusa's own heart. Haku saves her bacon, forcing Assassin to hurriedly abort the action by throwing what looked like a mundane frying pan until it hit a building with enough force to make it collapse.

By then, though, Rider of Black has been freed up for long enough to attempt another charge into the thick of their group. With no clear answer to twenty tons of muscle trying to run them over, they are forced to dodge out of the way, effectively getting the group split into two. The Chaldeans on one side, the Red Faction on the other.

Of course, the ghosts waste no time enforcing this divide and ensuring the two halves can't easily rejoin. Looking at this final result, there's no doubt in Medusa's mind that they've played right into the enemy's hand, there's no way this is a coincidence. What a mess, at least the Berserkers are still keeping each other busy, they don't need even more chaos here.

With the frustration of getting pushed around by what should've been inferior enemies, comes the temptation to take her blindfold off and bring the whole conflict to a sudden stop. She's not so frustrated that she'd go straight for the nuclear option, though.

'Sakura?' She telepathically calls for her Master.

'Rider?' Sakura answers with a hint of strain in her mental voice. Telepathic or not, conversations in the middle of open conflict are a distraction. 'Is there something wrong?'

'The enemy is getting his way.' She explains briefly, using as few words as she can to make her point. 'Should we…?'

'It's frustrating, isn't it?' Sakura immediately understands what she's talking about, as expected of her Master. 'But there won't be any need for that.'

'No need?' Medusa frowns, ducking under Assassin's latest attempt at separating her head from her body, only to growl in annoyance when the Blackened Servant disappears again before she can grab ahold of the offending arm. 'I'm sure you could–'

'I could.' Sakura concedes easily. 'But take a look around you. What are they doing?'

'Corralling us, splitting us…' Medusa answers in a somewhat grumpy voice, not seeing the point of the question. 'Pinning down the Red Faction here while leading the Chaldeans towards the Greater Grail Cavern.'

'Exactly.'

'And why are we… Oh.'

'Why are we allowing them to do what we wanted from the very start?' Sakura asks with an amused giggle. 'Geeze, are you letting your [Monstrous Strength]get to your head, Rider? You're usually sharper than this.'

Suddenly very thankful of the distance between them and the everpresent fire making it hard to make out fine details, Medusa feels her cheeks heat up.

Maybe she should relax her usage of [Monstrous Strength] a bit, after all? It's not like their opponents are particularly strong, they're just annoying. And not even the strength to shatter the earth won't help you bat away a swarm of flies.

Sakura is right, everything is going according to plan. There's no need to get worked up over nothing.

Olga Marie Animusphere

Her ears still pounding from the chaotic clash they had just gone through, Olga stops for a moment, resting her hands on her knees as she tries to get her breathing back under control. Sweet goodness, that had been… intense.

She thought she knew how Servant battles could get, but there's definitely a difference between watching a Servant mow down weak opposition like wheat or even the tidy and ordered spars between Servants in Chaldea's simulator and… whatever that had been back there.

… Open warfare is probably the closest thing to it. No, scratch the 'probably' part, that was outright open warfare.

"Lady Director?" Kyrielight interrupts her inner thoughts with a worried tone. "Would you like to take a break?"

"No, I'm fine." She hurriedly straightens herself up and starts walking again, feeling a bit (guilty at the girl's honest worry) annoyed by the girl's patronizing. "We should hurry anyway, before anyone notices our absence and comes after us."

"Nah." Fujimaru pipes in with a carefree voice, both her hands behind her head. "I doubt that'll happen."

"We've successfully infiltrated their innermost sanctum." Olga arched an eyebrow, unwilling to snap at the girl who has repeatedly shown to be more competent and knowledgeable than she had any right to be, even if she's clearly talking nonsense. "What do you mean nobody will come after us?"

"What I mean is that we didn't 'escape' into this cavern, we were led here. And thus, that means someone wants to meet us." Haku speaks calmly, projecting what appears to be a mundane torch to illuminate the area around them. "Isn't that right, Saber of Black?"

"Names are meaningless." A powerful voice, sharp and cold, echoes all through the cavern before an armored figure steps into view. "Your presence here is what matters."

In spite of her relatively short size, the presence of the armored figure is overwhelming. Is this the power of Saber of Black? The one said to have beaten every other Servant to win this Holy Grail War? A mix of might and authority that makes one feel like kneeling in supplication is the natural order of things.

Fortunately, magi are good at challenging the natural order of things.

"So you orchestrated all this!" Olga points a finger in accusation, somehow managing to keep her voice from breaking into stammers. "Are you trying to get us to join your side? I'm not saying we absolutely won't listen, but if you think we'll easily betray our allies, then—"

"Dialogue? Negotiation? I am a Tyrant, Chaldean. I make demands and the world can bend over to my will or get cut down by my sword." Saber of Black interrupts her with a dismissive wave, slowly raising her black blade into a combat position. "There won't be any dialogue here today."

The armored knight… no, the armored King takes a step towards them and, after trading a silent glance and nodding to each other, Fujimaru and Kyrielight take a step forward as one.

"No, we're going to fight, here and now, without outside interference." Saber of Black continues, as the distance between her and Olga's subordinates slowly shrinks. "Show me the strength of your convictions, Chaldeans! Else darkness swallows you whole!"

"Lady Director, please stay back and provide support." Fujimaru gives out a pointless command she has no authority to give and Olga will only follow because it happens to be the tactically sound option. "Mashu, with me!"

"Yes, Senpai! Shielder, Mashu Kyrielight… Ready for combat!"

"Something will happen as it should, at least." Saber of Black mutters with dark satisfaction. "Things will end as they're supposed to."

And then the time for words and grand gestures is over and all hell breaks loose.

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